expanding its reach. the chinese government makes another move to tighten its grip on disputed islands in southeast asia. chinese leaders are looking at the map of asia and looking at ways to assert their control over what they consider theirs. recently they made a change to

their country's passports suggesting disputed islands in the south china sea belong to china. now they're threatening to crack down on foreign ships that enter waters around those islands. analysts see the decision as part of efforts by china to reinforce its claim to the territory. leaders in vietnam and the philippines argue the islands lie within their borders. but the state-run xinhua news agency reports officials in hainan province issued an ordinance banning foreign ships from stopping in chinese unclaimed waters in the south china sea without permission. the ordinance also prohibits crews aboard those ships from landing on islands in the area. and it stipulates chinese authorities can search any vessels and detain crew members if the ban is violated. the directive also calls on chinese officials to set up police offices on the islands and launch patrols in the area. leaders in the philippines and vietnam have been pushing to resolve the south china sea

issue peacefully. but they're pushing back against china's recent moves. the philippine government is the latest to take action over those new chinese passports. it says a dotted line on maps in the passports makes the disputed islands appear as if they belong to china. the chinese government began issuing the passports in may. philippine officials now say they will not stamp visas in the passports. customs agents with will instead approve visas in separate application forms. philippine foreign ministry representatives say the new rules are aimed at avoiding any suggestion they acknowledge china's claim to the territory. other neighboring countries have also reacted sharply to the chinese passport map. vietnam and india have taken similar countermeasures. the waters around the disputed islands in the south china sea are believed to hold large reserves of oil and natural gas.

china's rise. wealth, power and problems. an income gap divides its people. pollution threatens their health. and disputed seas strains relations with neighbors. find out the problems china faces on "newsline." south korean leaders are looking to their counterparts in china to put pressure on north korea. a top envoy from the south is visiting beijing amid signs beonyang may soon attempt another missile long. lim sung-nam is the chief negotiate over pyongyang's nuclear problem. he'll meet with officials including the chair of the six-party talks on the north korean program. he'll likely ask china to persuade the north to skrapt launch. u.s. analysts said recent satellite photos said pyongyang may fire another missile.

north korean military leaders launched what they called a satellite from the same pace in april. western intelligence analysts said the device, which crashed, was a long-range missile. people at a japanese electronics company are interested in strength ning their renewable energy depart uchida from the businessk joins us now. >> i want to tell you specifically about rechargeable batteries or storage batteries. they're use envelope households during pow area outages, they're useful to drivers who use them in place of gasoline. the people at nec in japan understand that this is a growing and important market. the japanese electronics firm will join the bidding for a bankrupt u.s. company making storage batteries. nec officials say they want to buy the failed batterymaker a 1, 2, 3 systems. the u.s. firm filed for bankruptcy protection last month. it will be up for auction in early december.

sources say nec could end up paying more than $120 million to buy the company. storage batteries are a key headlight in building smart grids, the next generation in network power. smart grids are considered essential to promoting renewable energy such as polar power. demand for these batteries is expected to right globally. they provide backup in the event of power out ans due to weather and other factors. the u.s. central bank says the country's economic activity is expanding at a measured pace, but worries are rising about the so-called fiscal cliff. the federal reserve released its latest beige book economic report on wednesday. the document is based on surveys of businesses. it's compiled by 12 federal bank districts. it mentions weaker conditions in new york and some other districts hit by hurricane sandy late october despite a moderate improvement overall. on consumer spending, most districts saw an increase at a moderate pace and they also gave

mostly upbeat expectations for the holiday sales season. on housing, the report says the market continued to improve across most districts. selling prices were steady or rising. on employment, over half the districts reported improvements. but in manufacturing, 7 of the 12 districts reported that activity slowed or declined somewhat compared to the previous report. on the tokyo foreign exchange, the dollar is gaining ground against the yen this morning. dollar/yen is fetching 82.04-08 at the moment. analysts say concerns over the u.s. economic outlook eased slightly after u.s. president barack obama and a top republican in congress hinted they were optimistic about a deal over the so-called fiscal cliff. the euro is edging higher against the yen and that's changing hands at 106.24-26. let's take a look at stocks now. tokyo share prices are edging higher as concerns about the

u.s. economy are receding. the nikkei average at 9371, a gain of .7% from wednesday's close. export-related issues, including automakers, are leading the market advance. and taking a look at other markets open in the asia-pacific, we're seeing south korea's kospi trading higher by .9%, 1929. and in australia, the benchmark index is trading higher by .4%, 4465. we'll see where china takes us in the next hour. countries around the world are accelerating moves to solidify trade relations. among them, japan and the european union are seeking an economic partnership. but france's trade minister says yeahn pa will have to meet certain conditions before that happens. eu trade ministers will begin discussions on thursday on whether to approve the start of negotiations with japan for an economic partnership agreement.

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been trying to protect it by cracking down on illegal lgi anlandur agricultural development. japane pican precorarbudi tir case against a woman they say wathmaerndehd kiapngtouranmuer ring. investigators say mioko sumida preyed opelelo the that she was rponsible for keeping them cfid d physically abused and orchestrated as many as nine aty on the charge of dumping a body of m ithse poceou the body in a concrete-filled drum in the warsffkamarecte. in her condominium in a city in hiogo prefecture and she oresat h asend death. prosecutors have indicted suda hba, st-ilad nsveigorsavii wi, predf odndatd ysal asebere

they died. inoscas eyayelivof the victims o carried out the abuse.li have f connected to this case and ke dd. investigators say sumida's im c. dunghati, tinsnd police had warning signs. but they didt t. lalaenrcenisaral to blame, but so is the japanese ndcy to spect ivy. earlier, gene otani spoke with k worls porteroverin this story. >> you have been following the case. how did this casco tlit?>> y, g. it first came up a year ago when a woman ed to a poce station and said she'd been kidnapped since then the police have found dead bodies in different parts of western jap. instats y mi w t mastermind behind the death.

here's how they say it all worked. sumida's family ulsoho brainwash control members of different families. those indivials would be encouraged to help her keep their own relatives confin against their will. and then they would abuse those relatives. some of those individuals have al binct. police say the alleged victims were forced to borrow money and give it to sumida. altogether they lieve she received about $500,000. but they don't know if money was the only motive. many questio rai unanswered. >> okay. one other question. if sumida and others are responsible for these crimes as police and prosecutors see, how did they g away without noticing anything or anyone? >> that's right. it's actually hard to grasp. given the number of families that were involved, e ct that sumida's condo is located in a residential part of the

prefecture, we're talking about an urban area, not a remote town in the countryside. sumida is believed to have confined and abused people there for more than ten years. neighbors have noticed something wrong on a number of occasions. inome cases they saw sumida take her alleged victims out to dinner and witnesses noticed bruises on their faces. some of those alleged victims escaped. but police say sumida or her associates tracked them down and kidnapped them again. we know people witnessed some scenes. but there are no confirmed cases of anyone reporting what they saw to investigators. the police are also facing questions over their inaction. a victim borrowed money from her family to give to sumida. the police conducted interviews in that case, but they didn't launch a formal investigation. they have started an internal investigation to figure out what went wrong.

>> you talked earlier about the privacy issues in japan. >> uh-huh. >> and how people tend to stay away from other people's business. what would be behind this lax attitude of citizens as well as authorities? >> gene, it's common in urban japan not to get involved in other people's lives out of respect for their privacy. there's a cultural reason for this. now the fact is increase in nuclear families, extended families living together or close to each other, are becoming a thing of the past. as for police, the affair could be characterized as a big case of domestic violence. japanese police have a tradition of not interfering in domestic affairs. the data backs this up. take child abuse for example, children of welfare centers dealt with about 50,000 cases in 2010. the police handled fewer than 400 of them that year.

japanese police have been changing their attitude, but overall they're still cautious about intervening in domestic issues. i spoke with a prosecutor who deals with domestic violence. he says the sumida case is one of the most odd in japan's criminal history. but he says in general, the basic perception in the japanese judicial system is that not all law applied to household. he said it's time for society and the judicial system to change so potential crimes can be prevented both outside and inside home. residents of a city in central japan have taken part in an annual ritual. they held a festival to pray and give thanks for a good harvest.

>> reporter: they call it rising dragon. and the dragon carries messages to the heavens. the residents of fujieda hold this festival every other year at the end of october. they make the 20-meter missiles by hand. and they compete to make the most dazzling launch. but there's more to the festival than fireworks.

as the rockets soar toward heaven, some people recite their personal messages. children take part. like the students of this local elementary school. they began practicing a month before the festival. and who better to teach them than this man. he has been reciting messages for 35 years. >> translator: you don't just sing and you just don't read. you have to put your feelings into it. >> reporter: the children muse about the messages they want the missiles to carry to heaven. every one of the children wants to be a reader. to get into top form, some even practice during recess.

>> translator: it's my last year in elementary school, so i wanted to try it. >> translator: my older brother and sister both did it. it made me want to read messages, too. >> reporter: the day of the festival is here. eight children are to read their messages.

>> reporter: both young and old cherish the festival. and the passion is passed down from one generation to the next. people in southern italy are dealing with stormy conditions. a tornado has hit the region. mai shoji from the weather desk tells us more. >> yes, a couple of low-pressure systems that are very well developed over the central mediterranean sea.can see this formation. this is creating some severe weather across the region. we have a video coming out from southern italy. let's take a look at this. take a look at this freak tornado. it hit europe's largest steel plant in taranto in the south of italy on wednesday. the twister brought down a chimney stack and damaged a warehouse and a lighthouse. one person is reportedly missing with some two dozen injured. the intense storm which spawned

the tornado continues to swirl over the central and western mediterranean on thursday. let's pull back and show you what's happening here in europe. now, these couple of storms are still in similar regions as you can see. and the isobars really close to each other. it's going to be very gusty. damaging winds, hail, thunderstorms on the severe side, these are all going to be on top, and even tornadic activity cannot be ruled out. this will be continuing for your overnight hours. this is just about now as we speak. and now finally it will be tapering off toward central europe. this other system will move in, too. but yet again another round of stormy weather to come for you on your thursday. ahead of this system, stagnant air and radiational cooling. all this is creating some foggy conditions. temperature-wise, bucharest, we're looking at 19 degrees. pretty warm, but the humid flow will be also creating those foggy conditions. and out toward the west, things are really cold.

london, we're looking only at 6 degrees for your high. paris at 7 degrees. we actually have yellow alert for ice in much of the uk widely posted across the region. madrid only looking at 8 degrees. in fact, we saw snow in spain yesterday. now, let's move over to the asian continent. you can see another rain cloud forming over northern japan. badly hit again as we speak this morning we're looking at this low pressure system over north of hokkaido with this sagging cold front passing through the region leaving behind the wintry pressure pattern that is strengthening. so gusts of 100 kilometers per hour are likely in the next 24 hours which will be picking up those waves as much as five meters high. also snow. we already have a report about 70 centimeters in aomori prefecture. which is in the western flank of northern japan. ongoing snow conditions could trigger avalanche. and blizzard conditions in hokkaido. this is still on tap for you this morning. things will be tapering off, but

a very short break due to this other system moving in from southern japan. and will be creating some wet and windy conditions even toward central japan into this evening hours. this is due to the stationary front that is still lingering across the similar regions here in southeastern china. ongoing story with that heavy rain. i feel like a broken record, but 50 to 100 millimeters will continue to impact in the next 24 hours in gaung dong provinces. take your eye out here toward the water over the pacific. this is tropical storm bofa. we've been tracking it. it's going to intensify into a severe tropical storm status in the next 24 hours. and it is likely to become a strong typhoon status as it moves toward palau and in toward the philippines into your early week. and it is going to be creating really rainfall accumulation that could trigger flooding.

this is due to the temperature as you can see staying in the 30s in the tropics hence the development of that strong system. here's your extended forecast.

here's a new development. closing the gap between science fiction and science fact. a giant robot made its debut in tokyo. people can control it either by sitting inside or with a smartphone. the four meter tall robot appeared at a media event at the national museum of emerging science of innovation. a group of artists and robot engineers spent two years developing it. an operator in the cockpit can manipulate the robot's fingers using a special kind of glove. developer and artist koguro kurata says he worked on the giant creation as a hobby. >> translator: if you are inspired to make something similar to this, please do so without hesitation. it can even be a self-assembly model. >> the robot will be on display

in the museum through december 10th. that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. we'll